Winners by Danielle Steel Page A

thought. Joe had been his closest friend at Harvard, and for many years thereafter, and he had deep affection for him. “She had an accident in Squaw Valley six weeks ago. We’ve been there ever since.”
    Joe was worried the moment Bill said it. “Is she all right? Was she still training for the Olympics?” He had gone to the junior games with Bill three years before, when she won the bronze medal in downhill racing, and Joe had had a great time there with Bill.
    “She’ll be all right, but she’s not training for the Olympics right now,” Bill said, sounding tense. “The chairlift broke at Squaw, the cable snapped, she had a hell of a fall. She has a spinal injury, Joe,” Bill said in a choked voice, fighting back tears again, which happened to him too often now. “A bad one.”
    “Oh my God,” Joe said, unconsciously pushing the gun away from him. “How bad?”
    Bill started to say she would be fine, as he had for the last six weeks to everyone who asked him, but this time he was honest with his old friend, and himself. “I don’t know. That’s why we’re here. She was operated on by a woman in Squaw Valley. I don’t know if she’s any good. They say she is, but she’s a small-time local doctor, and who knows? I just took Lily to London and Zurich, and it wasn’t good. We’re seeing someone here tomorrow, and I’m taking her to Boston after that. Her spinal cord is severed, and she’s in a wheelchair for now. It’s been a hell of a shock. She’s dealing with it better than I am, but it’s hard on her too. She’s been through a lot.” Joe could hear the tears in Bill’s voice, and his heart ached for both of them. Compared to his problems of a life gone awry, a failed marriage and business, this was infinitely worse. It was a young girl’s life.
    “You’ve been through a lot too,” Joe said in a voice full of emotion and compassion. “What can I do for you?” Bill had always been there for him, now Joe wanted to do the same for him, even if all he could do was lend moral support.
    “Nothing. We’ll see what the doctors have to say. I’d love to see you tomorrow, though, if you’d like to join us at the hotel for dinner. Lily hasn’t been out yet. She just got out of the hospital a few days ago. And I think it would be embarrassing for her to go to a restaurant in the chair.” He had never asked her about it, but it was how he felt.
    “Of course. I’d love to see you. I’ll be there. What time?”
    “Why don’t you come at six o’clock so we can talk? I want to catch up on all your news too, and how everything shook out in the end.” It seemed ridiculous now that he hadn’t spoken to him in a year. They had been such good friends and still were. It was odd the way life sped past you sometimes and you lost touch. Bill felt as close as ever to him now as they talked.
    “I’ll be there,” Joe assured him. “And Bill,” he hesitated for a long minute, “thanks for calling. You’ll never know how much it meant.”
    “I feel the same way. I really needed to talk to someone tonight. I’m glad you were up. Thanks, Joe. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow,” he said in a voice full of emotion.
    “So do I,” Joe assured him, and they hung up. Joe looked at the gun on his desk and felt as though he had just woken up from a nightmare. What Bill and his daughter were going through was so much worse. Joe felt guilty and self-indulgent as he picked the gun up, removed the bullets, and put it back in his desk. He locked the drawer with a shudder, thinking about what he had almost done, and what it would have been like for his children, and the person who found him. He felt now as though someone had thrown cold water in his face. Maybe Karen wasn’t the one who was crazy—maybe he was. One thing was for sure, he knew, as he stood up and walked away from his desk—whatever happened, he was not going to do that again. All he could think about now was Bill and Lily, and hoped he